Image source: Visual China
On February 16, felicity Ace, a large cargo ship carrying 3,965 Volkswagen Group cars from Germany to the United States, caught fire near the Atlantic Azores. On February 18, according to a statement issued by the Portuguese Navy, 22 crew members on board were successfully evacuated and sent by the Portuguese Navy and Air Force to a local hotel, where the fire caused no casualties.
The fire lasted for about a week, and yesterday (March 2), according to Interface News quoted Bloomberg, the ship operator said that the "Felicity Ace" cargo ship had sunk at about 9 a.m. local time on Tuesday, about 220 nautical miles off the coast of the Portuguese Azores, and the tugboat failed to get it out of trouble.
The cargo ships carried thousands of vehicles
Porsche, Bentley, Audi
Built in 2005, the FelicityAce is 656 feet long, 104 feet wide, and has a load of 17,738 tons and can accommodate nearly 4,000 cars at full load.
According to an earlier internal mail from Volkswagen's U.S. subsidiary, the freighter departed from the German port of Emden to Rhode Island, USA, and carried a total of 3,965 new Volkswagen Group cars such as Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, and Porsche. Among them, there are 1100 Porsches, 189 Bentleys, as well as Audi, Lamborghini and Volkswagen ID.4 models. The Drive News Network estimates that bentley cars on board alone are worth more than $30 million.
Image source: Screenshot of the Bloomberg report
According to Reuters, Volkswagen Group said that the damage to the vehicle will be borne by the insurance company, and the insurance cost is expected to reach 155 million US dollars (about 970 million yuan). Messages posted on social media show that many of the Porsche cars are special orders that customers have been waiting for for months.
Porsche said in a statement: "We are relieved that the 22 crew members on the commercial ship FelicityAce are safe. Some of our cars were on board and we were in touch with the company that owned the boat and had been informed of the specifics of the cars on board. The reseller is contacting customers affected by this incident. ”
The Volkswagen Group also issued a statement saying, "We are working with local authorities and shipping companies to investigate the cause of the accident." ”
At the same time, the report also pointed out that because the freighter was carrying nearly 2,200 tons of fuel and 2,000 tons of oil, portugal was worried about a fuel leak that could pollute the oceans. An official said that while no contamination has been reported, there are concerns that the fuel tank could be damaged as the freighter continues to sink to a depth of 3,500 meters.
As for the cause of the fire, the Portuguese Navy said that although there is no conclusive evidence at present, there is reason to suspect that the lithium batteries of the ship's electric vehicles caused the fire.
Joao Mendes Cabeca, captain of the port of Hottas, the ship's closest port, said that due to structural problems caused by the fire and heavy waves, "the ship lost stability and sank." "There was an unknown number of electric vehicles on board that caught fire with power batteries, but it's unclear whether the batteries were the cause of the fire. There are media reports that the model that caught fire may be for the Audi e-tron Sportbacks.
It is understood that the internal temperature of the lithium battery equipped with the electric vehicle will quickly rise to more than 1200 degrees Celsius when burning, which is much higher than the 800 degrees Celsius of the gasoline flame at room temperature and pressure. At the same time, even in the case of an open flame extinguished, the reaction inside the battery may not be terminated, which leads to the possibility of its re-ignition. Therefore, lithium battery fires need to be extinguished using professional fire extinguishing equipment and specialized processes, and avoid making direct internal contact in any high-voltage components to prevent potential electric shocks.
Supply chains are affected
Volkswagen's most important electric vehicle plant will be temporarily shut down
According to the Russell Group analysis, the cars and vans aboard the Felicity Ace were worth $401 million, and the total value of the ship, including the ship, was estimated at $438 million.
Volkswagen said last week that damage to the vehicle was covered by insurance. Some insurance experts said the incident could lead to an initial loss of US$335 million (about 2.1 billion yuan).
It is worth noting that volkswagen group has not only encountered this unfortunate thing in recent days. As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalated, some of Volkswagen Group's factories were shut down due to supply chain problems.
According to the surging news, on February 25, Volkswagen Group announced that the Zwickau plant in Germany is tentatively scheduled to close for four days from March 1 to 4, and the Dresden plant will be closed for three days from March 2 to 4, mainly due to the impact of delays in the supply of parts in Ukraine. A Volkswagen spokesperson said it was uncertain how long the shutdown would last.
Source | The Paper, Daily Economic News, Interface News, Global Times
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